Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c15.55

c15.55

None but the king was allowed to sit upon a chair with a back; as remarked by Sir George Birdwood, “although chairs are not ordinarily used by the natives of India, they have always been familiar with them as the thrones of kings.” A beautiful chair dedicated by Kīrti Śrī Rāja Simha is preserved in the Asgiriya *pohoya-gē*; it is painted and inlaid with ivory (Pl. IX., 5). In Fig. 86 are shown a number of types of stools and chairs, from paintings at Degaldoruva, sufficiently described in the legend attached.